Never Swim Alone (Again)
by Crystal Volcheck
Summary: "First thing you have to learn is that Penguins, Never Swim Alone." After getting transferred to an elite group known as The Penguins, Private has his doubts about being able to become part of the team. Especially since the team seems to be falling apart, so much for never swimming alone. Humanized with fem!Kowalski -Written for Dragones-


**I've been working on this since September for Dragones, who wanted to see an AU featuring a not only a fem!Kowalski but a pregnant fem!Kowalski and a protective Rico, thus this story was born.**

**This story is somewhat of an AU for my Park Avenue series, particularly Slices of Life, it's just all the back stories that they were given in Park Avenue have been changed or certain events never happened. So you don't have to read those stories to understand this one, plus this story is about how Private came to be on the team. It also turned out longer than I expected so I'm not sure how long it'll actually be.**

**Disclaimer: I have no rights to The Penguins of Madagascar and make no profit off of writing is piece of fiction.**

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_In __another time, in another place things could be different, much different. In this time, in this place, a place and time that runs parallel to the one you know, events lined up just right and tragedy is completely unheard. However, fate still exists and certain individuals are destined to come together, no matter what time or place, they must meet..._

"You're not supposed to be drinking coffee." Rico's smooth rich voice killed Kowalski's ears as her husband enveloped her in a hug and pressed a kiss to her cheek. In this time and place, Rico was never taken by the La Sombra del Diablo and as a result never had the accident that left him unable to speak properly. Instead, he grew up with his five brothers and sisters to help run their parents' restaurant. Skipper and Kowalski had been on a mission, which he had unintentionally assisted in completing, leading to his recruitment in to CENTRAAL.

"It's been proven by science that one cup of coffee a day will not have any negative effect on a developing fetus, besides this is decaf and more importantly coffee suppresses my killing urges." The Kowalski you are familiar with was born Nicole Kowalski in this world and was raised by her mother after her father was killed in a drunk driving accident. "Which is crucial for you considering how much of a pest you are now; I'm not even through my first trimester." It was through CENTRAAL that she met Rico and while it wasn't love at first sight, they eventually stopped being stupid and acted on their feelings for one another.

"One day you'll thank me for being such a pest."

"That day isn't coming any time soon, believe me." She turned to face him, a fond smile on her lips and Rico was quick to steal a kiss.

"All right, break it up; you two can suck face on your own time. We have a new recruit coming today." The two broke apart to see Skipper standing in the doorway a small smile on his face. He was still their commanding officer, but in this time, Skipper's mother never walked out on him and his father, resulting in him now having a sister (who Hans did in fact kiss) and a not so sexist attitude. In fact, he wore his heart on his sleeve more often than not, the sensitive side of him showing through instead of being tucked away.

"Where did CENTRAAL find this one?" Kowalski asked trailing Skipper but not before shooting Rico a warning look about walking her from the kitchen to the common room. After all, she was only pregnant, not crippled, thankfully he raised his hands in surrender and went to get his own cup of coffee. She loved that man, but he could be so over protective. It might have been a good thing they that they never had a proper or traditional wedding, but that is a story for later.

"He's a Bond Boy, requested a transfer and MI6 sent him our way." Skipper looked up at Rico who had let out a groan of annoyance upon joining them at the table in time to hear about the new recruit and couldn't help but agree himself. The team was functioning just fine and throwing in someone new would throw off their dynamics, but he supposed it was for the best. Kowalski couldn't be going on missions in her condition and he doubted that she would want to be going on any after the baby was born. "I'm not exactly happy about it either, but once your bundle of joy comes into the world, we're going to be a little shorthanded."

"It's not like we're both leaving forever, Skipper." Kowalski's voice was soft; they had been putting off this conversation for a reason. She hadn't even talked to Rico about how starting a family would affect their careers at CENTRAAL. Hell, they had yet to tell their parents they had gotten married and that had been well over a year ago.

"That day will come; I can only hope I'm not around to see it, much like when one of your inventions takes out half of the world." Trust Skipper to reroute the conversation, Rico couldn't help but chuckle earning a glare from his wife.

"That was one time and it was only half a city block!"

"Before we get any more off track, when is Bond Boy showing up? I'd love to give him a proper Penguin welcome." There was a dark glint in Rico's blue-green eyes as he spoke, something that didn't go unnoticed by Kowalski.

"Thirteen hundred hours, gives us plenty of time to prepare ourselves and if I even see a smoke bomb you're running 2 miles… barefoot."

James Quinn sighed to himself, settling into the backseat of the taxi, they had hit traffic and it looked like it would be a while before it would start moving again. The increase of time he had before he'd meet his new team did nothing to calm his nerves; he had already been lectured by his Uncle Nigel about leaving MI6 for CENTRAAL, saying it was for American Jarheads. Thankfully, his parents told him to do what he thought was best for himself, he wasn't a little boy anymore, and he hadn't been for a long time. They had been referring of course to his work as Mr. Tux, something he was far from proud of.

CENTRAAL was a strange set up, they had teams set up across the globe, known by animal codenames, and he had been assigned to The Penguins. A considerably small group in New York, it consisted of only three members, Shawn Davis, Nicole Kowalski, and Rico Hernandez. What really worried him was how long the team had known each other; the most recent member had joined nine years ago, but had been in CENTRAAL's files for 12 years. Either way they would undoubtedly be a close-knit group even if he hadn't been given much to go by.

"Hey, kid, we're here." The cab driver's voice startled him; he must have dozed off at some point.

"Oh, yes, thank-you." He stumbled over his words and paid quickly as he could, half distracted by the thought that he didn't have all of his bags, which was silly because he only brought one. CENTRAAL had told him that uniform was not required and varied from team to team. He figured he had enough clothes to last two weeks, more than enough time to gather the required clothes or order a uniform if it was necessary.

As the cab left the feeling of nervousness returned, his stomach twisting as he walked up to the door, the only response from Commander Davis he had received on the subject of his arrival was an e-mail that said, The Door is Always Open. Which he supposed meant that the door was always unlocked and he was supposed to let himself in. "Hello?"

"They seem to get younger every year." A short and robust man commented from the bottom of a staircase. "You're our new Bond Boy, right?"

"Excuse me? I'm the MI6 transfer if that's what you're referring to."

"You got spunk kid, I'm Captain Davis, your new commanding officer, but if you value your life you'll just call me Skipper. Am I clear?" The way Skipper looked at him with dark sapphire eyes caused a spike of fear to fun down his spine; he swallowed his nervousness and quickly replied.

"Crystal."

"Now why don't we get you settled in before you meet the rest of the rookery?" James only nodded before following Skipper up stairs. "Now the first door on the left is my room, the door on the right is Rico and Kowalski's room. I figured you wouldn't want to deal with the lovebirds so your room is the second door on the right." Skipper led him down the hall and opened the door revealing a stark white room. "Take whatever time you need, dinner should be ready by five if you're not down before then."

Before he could even turn to ask Skipper, a question the man was halfway down the steps. James sighed and entered his room or maybe he should just say room. Everything seemed so impersonal, but he had to remind himself that he was the new guy. The 'Bond Boy' as Skipper put it, which was insulting to him, maybe Uncle Nigel was right, CENTRAAL, was for American Jarheads. Still he wouldn't let it get to him, he unpacked quickly though, wanting to meet the rest of the team.

"I will kill you in your sleep tonight for this and don't think that I won't!" Following the near shout was a hearty chuckle.

"You tell me that every day and I tell you the same thing every day; you'd miss me too much."

"Ugh, why did I marry such a dork?"

"Do you really think you should be the one calling me a dork?" There was sharp sound, almost like a slap that had him wincing. It had to be Rico and Kowalski, but the marriage bit through him off, that certainly wasn't in any of the files. After the footsteps faded, he decided he had done enough stalling. As he made his way down the stairs, he listened carefully for the others.

He came down the stairs and saw his two other teammates, a muscular Latino man with bright blue-green eyes and faux-hawk he assumed to be Rico and next to him had to be Nicole, a tall sharp-eyed woman with the figure of a model, her long dark brown hair pulled into a high ponytail.

"Ello, I'm James Quinn, the MI6 transfer."

"Heard that we were getting a Bond Boy, didn't think they'd send an actual boy though; I'm Rico and the total babe next to me is Nicole." Rico grinned and offered his hand; James tried not to wince as they shook hands; it seemed the muscles were not just for show.

"Please ignore him and call me Kowalski, I mean technically its Kowalski-Hernandez, but that might change." Kowalski smiled sweetly, shaking James's hand and giving her husband a quick glare.

"So you two are really married then?"

"It's quite the story, actually. We were on a mission, it went bad and as we were saying our good-byes, Rico here confessed his only regret was never telling me how he felt. Therefore, I made it my last request to marry him. Of course, Skipper came with reinforcements at the last minute and saved our asses. Afterwards we went to the nearest courthouse and got married; we were still covered in blood." The two looked at each other fondly threading their fingers together; Rico whispered something in Spanish to Kowalski and James could feel a blush flooding his cheeks.

"Is this going to be a thing from now on, because if it is, I suggest you two find an apartment sooner rather than later." Skipper had returned and was holding several files under his arm, a clear look of annoyance on his face.

"Then I guess you'll be happy to hear that we already found one; Roger is quite the realtor." Kowalski replied smoothly but Skipper never even flinched, he just strolled over to the table and continued as if Kowalski had never said anything.

"So, James, how much did CENTRAAL tell you of our current situation?"

"They really didn't tell me anything, other than there was to be a leave of absence and they believed that I would be an asset to the team."

"I agreed to put you on this team on a need only basis, if you can prove you're Penguin material, there may just be a permanent spot for you. It all depends if my Lieutenant decides to come back or not, because if Kowalski does decide to come back and you're not Penguin material, you'll be returning to MI6." James did his best to not look shocked; they hadn't informed him that this was just a trial run.

"Any questions so far?"

"No sir."

"Good, now we don't have any current missions and CENTRAAL is being careful to only send small stuff our way. So you'll have plenty of time to prove yourself. These," Skipper spread the files out on the table, "are the files of the current residents on Park Avenue. They include basic personal information and any ties they have to past missions. Once you have these memorized, you'll be given the files on the reoccurring criminals we deal with as well as the double agents we work with. Of course I don't expect you to do that all today; I'll let Kowalski give you the grand tour instead."

"Shall we?" Kowalski gestured to the stairs.

"Ladies first."

"Quite the gentleman, you should pay attention Rico." James wasn't sure what to think about the look Rico gave him, but by the way the man rolled his eyes, he figured he was safe.

"You've already seen the bedrooms; the bathroom is at the end of the hall. Now there is a bathroom schedule in the morning so we'll have to work you in."

"Schedule?"

"There's only so much hot water and Rico spends more time on his hair than I spend on mine. Now the third floor is our training room, we have a three-hour group training session every morning except on Sundays and a two-hour personalized training sessions every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday." Kowalski explained hardly stopping long enough for James to get a good look at the equipment in the open room.

"So why not on Sundays?"

"Skipper declared Sunday as Hobby Day; it's more of a free day for us to do whatever we want. Now this floor is reserved as storage and Rico's studio." That was surprising, Rico didn't seem like the artsy type, but he snuck at look through the open door and saw huge paintings leaning against walls and on easels. The paintings were gorgeous, many depicting scenes of dying cultures or cultures long since gone.

"Wow…" He had realized that he had entered the studio until Kowalski grabbed his hand to keep him from touching a painting of an elderly man carving a mask.

"Despite his appearance Rico is actually a very sensitive soul, this painting is of a man of the Brunka tribe in Costa Rica carving a mask for Danza de los Diablitos. I don't know much about it to be honest, but if you're interested you could easily ask Rico, it is his heritage after all."

"I'll keep that in mind, but I think I'll need to understand American culture first. I've never been in the United States for more than a day or two, let alone just outside of Central Park."

"You'll get used to it, after a few months the excitement will wear off and then you'll be begging for a mission that takes you half-way across the country. Although I don't think you'll get tired of this." They had left the studio and ascended the stairs, where at the top Kowalski open the door to reveal the pool on the roof of the building as well as the minibar.

"I can't imagine ever getting tired of that, but you said earlier that the excitement wears off, is that why you're taking leave?" For a moment, he thought he had said the wrong thing, Kowalski's silence unnerving.

"Actually, I'm going on maternity leave."

"Congratulations, that's fantastic!"

"Thank-you, though we should probably head back down so I can finish showing you around HQ." Unlike before, Kowalski sounded shy and uncertain. It made him wonder if he had inadvertently touched a sore spot and he suddenly felt the need to apologize.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, it really wasn't any of my business."

"No, its fine, I just over think things and drive myself mad, so Rico and I haven't really discussed what we're going to do after the baby is born. Then of course we actually haven't even informed our families about getting married and now there's a baby on the way, things are just a bit nerve-wracking at the moment."

"Sounds like nerve-wracking is an understatement." They reached the first floor and Kowalski pointed out the kitchen and living room area, when asked about the door she only said that it was her lab and that it was off limits.

"There's still quite a bit left to show you, but I'll leave that to Skipper. He'll have to approve your security clearance for the access codes."

"You'll get only those access codes if you can prove yourself worthy of being called a penguin." Skipper's gruff voice startled him; he turned to see Skipper coming down the hall with an apron in hand. "Kowalski you need to go reel your husband in, before he gets started on the second dessert."

"I swear, if I didn't love him, I'd kill him." Kowalski grumbled snatching the apron from Skipper and disappearing down the hall.

"Well James, ugh, that's not going to work. You need a better name and your files have you listed as a private and while we both know, how reliable files are, I'm thinking there's something there."

"Sir?"

"From now on you're going to be Private." That was odd, but James only nodded and agreed, in a way it was nice, it made him feel like he was part of the team. However, there was that small part of him that was hurt and confused by the gesture. "I figure Kowalski told you about the schedule or at least the basics of it, I don't except you to have it down right away, but we'll need you to get on penguin time as soon as possible."

"Speaking of penguin, CENTRAAL didn't exactly give me much information about your unit and you keep saying that I have to prove that I could be called a penguin. What exactly does that entail?"

"It's not so much what it entails as to what it means, the penguin credo is 'Never Swim Alone' we don't believe in solo missions. Project: Habitat created units that would live together, but the Penguins took it a step further. Each of us has a specific strength and skill set and while there is some overlap, together we're unstoppable." Skipper paused for a moment, "for example. Kowalski is a genius, a literal genius. She can hack into any system and build a working freeze ray out of scraps. However, her combat skills are lacking, she relies on her brain more than instinct. Now Rico, isn't stupid, far from it actually, he can make almost anything into an explosive and once he gets going, he's a juggernaut. Not to mention he's excelled at hand to hand combat, but he doesn't think things through. Nearly got himself killed assisting us on mission in Costa Rica. Now put the two together, it's Bonnie and Clyde." As Skipper was talking, they had settled down at the table where the files on Park Avenue residents were still spread out. Private saw the thickness of some of the files and felt his stomach churn, it reminded him of MI6 and how they monitored everyone.

"So being a penguin isn't about being cute and cuddly then?"

"Not as often as I'd like it to be, for the most part we're supposed to go unnoticed and for the most part we do just that. Which reminds me, you're going to need to get a new wardrobe and a tux. We might have a few uniforms in storage, but no guarantee."


End file.
